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July 8, 2006

G85: Red Sox 9, White Sox 6

Red Sox - 000 321 210 - 9 16 0White Sox - 010 220 010 - 6 13 0

That one pretty much qualifies as an instant classic. Whew!

Lopez and Hansen pitching out of the bases loaded, no outs mess in the seventh (with the Sox up 8-5) was huge. The pen was put in that no-room-for-error spot because of Tito Being Tito, bringing a cooked Beckett out for the seventh and leaving him out there while he walked the #9 hitter Cintron on four pitches, gave up a single to Podsednik and issued a five-pitch walk to Iguchi.

Criticizing Francona in that instance is first-guessing. Leaving the starter in too long and also giving the bullpen no wiggle room is his MO. He has his reasons, apparently, and he's likely going to cost the Sox some more games this season, but I can't see him ever really changing his patterns.

Beckett got credit for his 11th win, but he pitched like absolute poop. He gave up three more home runs, seemingly unwilling to let his teammates enjoy a lead for more than five minutes. Scoreless in the 2nd, Dye goes deep. The Red Sox score three in the 4th to lead 3-1, Beckett gives it back in the bottom half (another Dye dinger to tie the game). Boston goes up 5-3 in the 5th, Beckett surrenders a 2-run bomb to Thome. Despite Beckett throwing only 85 pitches in six innings, it was obviously time to go to the pen.

In the 7th, Lopez struck out Thome on a 1-2 slider away. Then Hansen retired Konerko on a fly to right and Dye on a liner to shortstop. Hansen got into some trouble in the 8th on a trio of squibs and bleeders, but Papelbon came in and slammed the door.

David Ortiz has 31 home runs and 86 RBI -- the highest totals for a Red Sox player in nearly 50 years.

Question for those Fox watchers: Exactly how long did Buck and McMoron go on about Manny not playing in the All-Star Game? I got the impression from the SoSH game thread they would have been less indignant if Ramirez had killed and eaten Buck's dog.

7 comments:

we put up a 3-spot in the top of the 7th to get the lead back AGAIN. and then beckett is back out there in the home half. right away he walks someone. does tito go to the bullpen? no. next guys singles. bullpen? not yet. STILL NO OUTS. another walk. bullpen yet? mhmm, yes. yes, nowww we go to the bullpen. bases loaded, no outs with thome at the plate is when you go to the bullpen for frankenwitch.

i don't even care if we get out of the inning unscathed (hope hope). it's just befucked management, and it...gd raises my bloodpressure.

Agreed on Tito...this was him at his Eddie Kasko worst. He leaves a cooked righty in to load the bases because he doesn't want a fresh lefty to have to pitch to a right-handed batter before Thome? What kind of logic is THAT? And this is exactly the opposite of Monday morning quarterbacking...it doesn't matter that great work by Lopez and Hanson got the Sox out of Becket's mess. Tito's calls in bringing Beckett back to pitch the 7th and especially not lifting him before the walk and then the single were terrible.

And the long diatribe over Manny skipping the All-Star Game was wildly over-blown. Yeah, I think he should at least attend, as the #1 vote-getter, but so what? Manny just doesn't get this stuff, so let the fans vote for someone else next time...that's fine with me. I'm happier with him skipping the All-Star game than taking a day off when the Sox are short of outfielders.

Wouldn't you guess that Rudy S. is in his final days as a Red Sock? Seems like he's never going to pitch again...which is fine with me.

sounded like he had nothing today. both joe/jerry and soshers said he couldn't keep his fastball down (dye's 1st HR). he still resists going to his curve, and when he did today, it hung (dye's 2nd HR).

he wasn't pitching well for whatever reason and it was a mistake in a back-and-forth battle like today for francona to bring him out for another inning.

wrong to stay with him after the cintron walk and certainly wrong after the hit to podsednik (the 10th he allowed today).

we won but that was in spite of tito not because of him. (though there is more good in tito than bad)

Personally, several things about that 7th inning astonished me, and will probably stay with me for the rest of my life. First, Josh Beckett didn't have it all day, giving up every lead the offense handed him. So it was a little surprising to see him trot out for the 7th, and I was calling for the hook (sceaming, actually) the minute Cintron walked.

I have been a Sox fan since the days of Tony C, Yaz and gentleman Jim Lonborg and I can tell you, from hard experience, that I can't ever recall a situation where a Red Sox starter left a game with the bases full and no outs, against a team the stature of the White Sox (playing well over .600 baseball, World Series champs) with bats the equivalent stature of Jim Thome, Paul Konerko and Dye's coming to the plate in succession... (leaving aside the fact that the Red Sox trotted out two pitchers in the inning and that they were: A lefty mid season pick-up, and a rookie) ... AND the damage done is... nothing, nada, zip, zero, THEY DID NOT SCORE!

Thinking of occurances, from the merely bad to the disaterous, that could have transpired, from least to worst... it simply boggles the mind, I mean ponder the permuations for a second... a run scoring double play ball (not likely, and actually not a bad thing at all, if it had happened) a sac fly, a balk, a passed ball, wild pitch, a strike out/passed ball, a hit by pitch, any type of base hit, incuding a bases clearing double and almost any combinationm of those, incuding (god forbid,an error) all the way up to a grand slam. Like I said, mind boggling.I truly think, that in that situation, over the years, I have seen all the possible outcomes and variables, except the impossible... that, I witnessed today.

Okay, so maybe it HAS happened, maybe there have been other miraculous outcomes in that situation, but I surely do not remember them, and any Sox fan that does, well, I tip my hat, for they are the more fortunate.

Did anyone else spot the bracelet on Tito's left wrist as the Fox camera caught him stuffing a fresh chaw in his jaw during the bottom of the 7th? I could have sworn it read WWGHD? (What Would Grady Have Done?).

Like everyone else besides Tito (and his accomplice, The Nip), I leapt from my seat screaming "YOU HAVE GOT TO BE F&^$ING KIDDING ME!" when he kept LaLoosh in the game, who clearly had been on the tight-rope all afternoon.

As desert sox opined, it is truly amazing that the 'pen got us out of that inning unscathed, especially to see the subjects of the CHI/BOS bullpen swaps figure so prominently in the outcome of this game (Lopez whiffs Thome; Riske takes the L).

Just once, I'd like to see the NESN Neopolitan Nitwit, Ms. Cervazio, toss a really probing question at Tito during her post-game "Terry's Take" segment, rather than her usual array of eye candy and off-speed stuff. Examples might include:

- "Terry, first of all, great win for the team. Could you tell us what your thought process was in bringing Josh Beckett back out for the 7th?"...OR,- "Terry, clearly Josh Beckett was battling out there today. At what point in the 7th did you realize he had given you everything he had out there?"...OR, - "Terry, at what point did it occur to you that you might want to get your thumb out of your ass and get Josh Beckett out of the game before he blew his third lead of the day and likely the game?"

The incomprehensible turn of events in the 7th once again begs the question - do the Sox win because of Terry Francona or despite him?